Income taxes coming in Nauru

Income tax is to be imposed in Nauru from the 1st of October with a business tax to apply from July next year.

This has been revealed in the country's new Budget.

Don Wiseman has more:

"The Government says the economy has grown significantly in the past two years, largely due to income from the huge Australian run detention camp for asylum seekers, but it says it wants to broaden the country's revenue base. The Finance Minister David Adeang, who presented the Budget, says a small surplus should accrue with spending of just under 92 million US dollars predicted for the coming year. Mr Adeang says higher income earners will be taxed at a flat rate of 10 percent while there will be a tax-free threshold for some. He says the second significant revenue gathering measure is the introduction of visa fees for refugees resettled into the Nauru community. Mr Adeang says this is to cover the additional services the refugees need. He does not say who will pay it. The Budget was pushed through unopposed with five Opposition MPs now expelled from Parliament in controversial circumstances."